Congressional Public Lands Score by More Than Just Parks

John Thune

Republican · U.S. Senate · South Dakota

Ranked #54 (tied) of 98 scored

Scored under 60%.

Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, earns an F on the Congressional Public Lands Score. Of the 19 scored Senate votes, Thune cast 0 for public lands and 19 against. The two closest: Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1), 50 to 50, and Yea on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140), 50 to 49. Thune's seat is not on the 2026 ballot.

Every scored vote: 19 of 19 U.S. Senate votes counted

Anti-lands
Lilly Fish and Wildlife and Parks (En Bloc) S.Res.817
En bloc confirmation of 74 nominees under S.Res.817, including Kevin Lilly as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, the official overseeing the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lilly, a Texas wealth manager, drew formal opposition from the National Parks Conservation Association, and senators from both parties questioned his lack of land management experience. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · August 7, 2026 · Roll call 225, 51 to 47
Anti-lands
Pearce BLM Director (En Bloc) S.Res.690
En bloc confirmation of 49 nominees under S.Res.690, including Stevan Pearce as Director of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency managing 245 million acres of public land. As a congressman, Pearce repeatedly backed transferring or selling federal public land. Confirmed 46-43. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · May 18, 2026 · Roll call 125, 46 to 43
Anti-lands
Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban H.J.Res.140
CRA resolution overturning the 20-year mining ban on 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most visited wilderness in America. Became Public Law 119-85.
Voted Yea · April 16, 2026 · Roll call 84, 50 to 49
Anti-lands
Opening Arctic Refuge to Drilling H.J.Res.131
CRA resolution overturning the 2024 environmental protections for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, stripping safeguards from the 1.56-million-acre coastal plain calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd
Voted Yea · December 4, 2025 · Roll call 632, 49 to 45
Anti-lands
Overturning Powder River Basin Coal Protections (WY) H.J.Res.130
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's 2024 Buffalo Field Office resource management plan amendment in Wyoming, which made approximately 413,000 acres of federal coal unavailable for future leasing in the Powder River Basin.
Voted Yea · November 20, 2025 · Roll call 623, 51 to 43
Anti-lands
Opening Western Arctic to Drilling S.J.Res.80
CRA resolution nullifying the 2022 management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which had closed about half of the 23-million-acre Western Arctic reserve to new oil and gas leasing
Voted Yea · October 30, 2025 · Roll call 599, 52 to 45
Anti-lands
Overturning Central Yukon Protections (AK) H.J.Res.106
CRA resolution nullifying the Bureau of Land Management's Central Yukon resource management plan in Alaska, which designated 21 areas of critical environmental concern covering approximately 3.6 million acres. The resolution removed a land-plan barrier to the Ambler Road, which would cross Gates of the Arctic National Preserve; the administration had restored the road's federal permits three days earlier. Became Public Law 119-50.
Voted Yea · October 9, 2025 · Roll call 560, 50 to 46
Anti-lands
Overturning Miles City BLM Protections (MT) H.J.Res.104
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the Miles City Field Office in Montana, opening public lands to expanded industrial use
Voted Yea · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 549, 52 to 47
Anti-lands
Overturning North Dakota BLM Protections H.J.Res.105
CRA resolution rolling back Bureau of Land Management resource management plans for the North Dakota Field Office, removing protections from public lands across the state
Voted Yea · October 8, 2025 · Roll call 556, 50 to 45
Anti-lands
Boren USDA Under Secretary (En Bloc) S.Res.412
En bloc confirmation of 108 nominees under S.Res.412, including Michael Boren as USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment, the official directly overseeing the U.S. Forest Service. Confirmed 51-47. Senators who voted Yea confirmed every nominee in the package.
Voted Yea · October 7, 2025 · Roll call 547, 51 to 47
Anti-lands
Nesvik USFWS Director PN25-35
Confirmed Brian Nesvik as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency responsible for endangered species protections and the National Wildlife Refuge System
Voted Yea · August 1, 2025 · Roll call 470, 54 to 43
Anti-lands
One Big Beautiful Bill H.R.1
Reconciliation bill mandating four Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain lease sales, five National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska lease sales, a four-million-acre coal leasing mandate, coal royalty rate cuts from 12.5% to 7%, a 250-million-board-foot yearly increase in national forest timber sales through 2034, and rescinding Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding
Voted Yea · July 1, 2025 · Roll call 372, 50 to 50
Anti-lands
Vaden Deputy Agriculture PN12-43
Confirmed Stephen Vaden as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, second in command of the department that houses the U.S. Forest Service
Voted Yea · June 10, 2025 · Roll call 301, 51 to 44
Anti-lands
MacGregor Deputy Interior PN13-10
Confirmed Katharine MacGregor as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, the department's chief operating officer, who led first-term efforts to shrink national monuments and expand drilling on public lands
Voted Yea · May 14, 2025 · Roll call 250, 54 to 40
Anti-lands
Overturning Glen Canyon Safeguards H.J.Res.60
CRA resolution overturning the National Park Service rule limiting off-road vehicle use in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, reopening those routes to motorized use
Voted Yea · May 8, 2025 · Roll call 239, 50 to 43
Anti-lands
Preventing Public Lands Sell-Off S.Amdt.2107
Budget resolution amendment (H.Con.Res.14) to bar the use of proceeds from selling federal public land for deficit reduction, the Senate's recorded vote on public land sales ahead of the reconciliation bill
Voted Nay · April 5, 2025 · Roll call 181, 48 to 51
Anti-lands
Reinstating Fired Land Managers S.Amdt.540
Budget resolution amendment (S.Con.Res.7) creating a reserve fund to reinstate the federal employees fired from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service
Voted Nay · February 20, 2025 · Roll call 68, 48 to 52
Anti-lands
Rollins Agriculture Confirmation PN11-12
Confirmed Brooke Rollins as Secretary of Agriculture, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service and 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands
Voted Yea · February 13, 2025 · Roll call 53, 72 to 28
Anti-lands
Burgum Confirmation PN11-3
Confirmed Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, despite his stated agenda to expand oil and gas extraction on public land
Voted Yea · January 30, 2025 · Roll call 26, 80 to 17

Roll calls and tallies from senate.gov, read October 26, 2026. Which side counts as pro-lands is the scorecard's call on each vote (methodology). Provision ratings: none of these bills has an approved rating yet, so none is named here.

Call Senator Thune through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Open the full record in the scorecard

Public lands bills Thune sponsors or cosponsors

In the 119th Congress, Thune sponsors 1 and cosponsors 1 public lands bills.

S.5359 Pennington County Land Conveyance Act
Sponsor · Introduced August 7, 2026 · Not yet rated
S.2787 Grasslands Grazing Act of 2025
Cosponsor · Signed on September 29, 2025 · Not yet rated

Bills and cosponsors from the congress.gov API, read September 24, 2026. A bill is rated only when a named person approves a rating that quotes its provision; none of these has one yet.

Thune's committees

Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Commodities, Derivatives, Risk Management, and Trade; Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology; Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, and Food Safety
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Aviation, Space, and Innovation; Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy; Surface Transportation, Freight, Pipelines, and Safety; Telecommunications and Media
Senate Committee on Finance
Health Care; International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness; Taxation and IRS Oversight
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Ex Officio)

Committee seats from unitedstates/congress-legislators, read July 3, 2026.

Public lands in South Dakota

82 federal land units lie in or reach into South Dakota. Parks with a More Than Just Parks guide: Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park.

Listed park guides first, then by size; the largest 40 of 82 are named.

Badlands National Park 111,331 acres
Wind Cave National Park 33,927 acres
Black Hills National Forest 1,075,125 acres
Buffalo Gap National Grassland 586,971 acres
Oaha Recreation Area 314,305 acres
Lake Oahe Army Corps of Engineers · 277,638 acres
South Dakota Field Office Bureau of Land Management · 275,364 acres
Sharpe Recreation Area 156,862 acres
Grand River National Grassland 154,662 acres
Fort Pierre National Grassland 115,811 acres
Francis Case Recreation Area 102,941 acres
Lake Francis Case Army Corps of Engineers · 84,826 acres
Custer National Forest 73,890 acres
Badlands Wilderness Area 61,740 acres
Lake Sharpe Army Corps of Engineers · 57,072 acres
Norbeck Wildlife Preserve National Game Refuge 46,096 acres
Lewis and Clark Lake Army Corps of Engineers · 27,319 acres
Indian Creek Roadless Area 24,666 acres
Mcpherson County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 20,999 acres
Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge 19,486 acres
Lake Traverse Army Corps of Engineers · 18,217 acres
Red Shirt Roadless Area 17,007 acres
Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge 16,571 acres
Belle Fourche Reservoir Bureau of Reclamation · 14,167 acres
Black Elk Wilderness 13,534 acres
Marshall County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 11,269 acres
Edmunds County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 9,246 acres
South Fork Roadless Area 7,653 acres
Cheyenne River Roadless Area 7,572 acres
Beadle County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 7,535 acres
Day County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 7,318 acres
Kingsbury County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 7,052 acres
Twin Butte Creek Roadless Area 6,699 acres
Brookings County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 6,641 acres
Fort Meade Recreation Area of Critical Environmental Concern 6,386 acres
Clark County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 6,172 acres
Lake County Waterfowl Production Area Of Sd Fish and Wildlife Service · 6,090 acres
Codington County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 6,074 acres
Jim Wilson Canyon Roadless Area 6,024 acres
Grant County Waterfowl Production Area Fish and Wildlife Service · 5,371 acres

Fires burning on public land in South Dakota

3 Pine Fire 1 acres, updated October 24, 2026

Drilling, mining and logging on record in South Dakota: 1,042 timber sales (70,586 acres); 827 hardrock mining claims (24,091 acres); 131 oil and gas leases (53,931 acres).

Threatened public lands in South Dakota

Dewey-Burdock Uranium Project Critical

Federal land units from PAD-US, matched to the state's districts in the More Than Just Parks record, refreshed October 26, 2026; acres are each unit's full size, and units overlap, so they are not added up. Easements on private land are left out. Fires from NIFC; mining claims, leases and timber sales from BLM and Forest Service records; read October 26, 2026.

Who funds Thune on lands issues

PACs and other committees gave Thune's campaign $901,750 in the 2025-26 cycle. Across the 4 cycles on record, oil, gas, mining and timber PACs gave $191,500, and conservation PACs gave $2,000.

Cycle	All PACs and committees	Oil and gas	Mining and coal	Timber	Conservation
2019-20	$704,494	$3,000	none	none	$1,000
2021-22	$2,915,967	$106,500	$9,000	$12,500	none
2023-24	$647,993	$21,500	$5,000	$2,500	$1,000
2025-26	$901,750	$21,500	none	$10,000	none

Itemized contributions from committees to the candidate (FEC S2SD00068, FEC H6SD00085), net of refunds, read October 26, 2026. Industry is the giving PAC's industry in the More Than Just Parks record. A contribution says who gave, not why anyone voted as they did.

How Thune compares

The median senator scores 5%. Thune scores 0% and ranks #54 (tied) of 98.

More from South Dakota

Sen. Mike Rounds F · Rep. Dusty Johnson F

What to ask Thune

Washington office: 511 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Phone (202) 224-2321. Write to Thune · Official site

From Thune's own record:

Why did you vote Yea on Lilly Fish and Wildlife and Parks (En Bloc) (S.Res.817)?
Why did you vote Yea on Pearce BLM Director (En Bloc) (S.Res.690)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Boundary Waters Mining Ban (H.J.Res.140)?
Why did you vote Yea on Opening Arctic Refuge to Drilling (H.J.Res.131)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Powder River Basin Coal Protections (WY) (H.J.Res.130)?
Why did you vote Yea on Opening Western Arctic to Drilling (S.J.Res.80)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Central Yukon Protections (AK) (H.J.Res.106)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Miles City BLM Protections (MT) (H.J.Res.104)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning North Dakota BLM Protections (H.J.Res.105)?
Why did you vote Yea on Boren USDA Under Secretary (En Bloc) (S.Res.412)?
Why did you vote Yea on Nesvik USFWS Director (PN25-35)?
Why did you vote Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1)?
Why did you vote Yea on Vaden Deputy Agriculture (PN12-43)?
Why did you vote Yea on MacGregor Deputy Interior (PN13-10)?
Why did you vote Yea on Overturning Glen Canyon Safeguards (H.J.Res.60)?
Why did you vote Nay on Preventing Public Lands Sell-Off (S.Amdt.2107)?
Why did you vote Nay on Reinstating Fired Land Managers (S.Amdt.540)?
Why did you vote Yea on Rollins Agriculture Confirmation (PN11-12)?
Why did you vote Yea on Burgum Confirmation (PN11-3)?

Offices and phones from the Senate and House member feeds and unitedstates/congress-legislators, checked October 22, 2026.

Questions people ask

How did John Thune vote on One Big Beautiful Bill?

John Thune voted Yea on One Big Beautiful Bill (H.R.1) on July 1, 2025. The Senate vote was 50 to 50, and the scorecard counts Nay as the vote for public lands.

Is John Thune up for election in 2026?

No. John Thune's Senate seat from South Dakota is not on the 2026 ballot. Thune's grade on the 19 scored Senate votes so far is an F.

What public lands are in South Dakota?

82 federal land units lie in or reach into South Dakota. The largest are Black Hills National Forest (1,075,125 acres), Buffalo Gap National Grassland (586,971 acres) and Oaha Recreation Area (314,305 acres).